Steady-state cardio, says Robertson, also causes unique adaptations in the heart. When you exercise at a high intensity (while interval training, for example), he says, your
heart
often beats so fast that the left ventricle — which stores oxygenated blood momentarily before pumping it out — can’t refill completely between contractions. At a slightly lower intensity (and, thus, a lower heart rate), the left ventricle fills completely before it contracts, which causes it to grow in capacity — and thus pump more blood with each contraction — over time. This triggers your heart rate to drop substantially, both at rest and during exercise.

That’s a good thing. A lower heart rate isn’t just an indication of a healthy and high-functioning cardiovascular system. It’s also indicative of high “parasympathetic tone” in the nervous system — an enhanced ability to relax, focus, and recover from
stress
, including intense exercise.

“So many people these days are stressed out, on the go, can’t relax, can’t shut down,” says Robertson. “And then they go to the gym and stress their bodies more with high-intensity workouts. But what they need is more steady-state, chill-you-out workouts.”

So many people these days are stressed out, on the go, can’t relax, can’t shut down,” says Robertson. “And then they go to the gym and stress their bodies more with high-intensity workouts. But what they need is more steady-state, chill-you-out workouts.

Critics of steady-state cardio exercise are right about a few things. It isn’t a cure-all. Beyond a low baseline level, you won’t build much strength, power, or muscle. And contrary to what many people believe, you won’t burn an appreciable amount of fat, either. Exercisers in a 2009 study conducted by researchers at Queensland University of Technology in Australia who did steady-state cardio five times a week for 12 weeks lost only 7 pounds on average — and nearly half of them lost less than 2 pounds. Steady-state cardio is also repetitive. Jog for 30 minutes and you may take as many as 5,000 steps. To some exercisers, that’s meditative; to others, it’s a bore.

It may also be risky, says sports medicine physician Jordan Metzl, coauthor of
The Exercise Cure
(Rodale, 2013). “The more you perform a single-movement pattern, the more you load up one area of the body, and the more likely you are to get injured.”

Still, for a low-key workout that reduces your stress level and improves recovery while delivering general health and an efficient aerobic engine, old-fashioned steady-state cardio is underrated and tough to beat.

Interval training
— in the form of sprints, shuttle runs, and timed lap swimming — has been a staple among athletes for at least a century. More recently, however, casual exercisers have caught on to its benefits as well. “Back in 1992, it was understood that if you wanted to be lean and healthy, you had to do cardio — hours of it,” recalls fitness journalist Lou Schuler, coauthor of
The New Rules of Lifting Supercharged
(Avery, 2012).

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The Players

Steady-state cardio and are convenient, versatile, and safe ways to develop your cardiovascular system. You can do them virtually anywhere with a minimum of equipment; you can switch up your activity at will (from running to swimming, say); and you don’t need a lot of coaching to do them effectively. In practice, however, the two styles of training are very different.

Steady-state cardio workouts are as simple as they come. Perform your activity at a steady, challenging-but-manageable pace (60 to 70 percent of maximal capacity) for 20 minutes or more, aiming for a heart rate of 120 to 150 beats per minute.

Steady-state cardio workouts are as simple as they come. Perform your activity at a steady, challenging-but-manageable pace (60 to 70 percent of maximal capacity) for 20 minutes or more, aiming for a heart rate of 120 to 150 beats per minute.

HIIT workouts are slightly more complex. Perform your activity as hard as you can (90 to 100 percent of maximal capacity) for a brief, set time period (usually two minutes or less), then back off for a predetermined rest
interval
(usually three minutes or less), and repeat the cycle four times or more.

Steady-state cardio is aerobic: It requires oxygen and is fueled mostly by stored fat. HIIT, by contrast, is anaerobic: The work intervals don’t rely exclusively on oxygen, and are fueled mostly by stored carbohydrates. (Counterintuitively, HIIT makes you breathe harder, and burns more fat, than steady-state cardio. More on that in a moment.)

Both types of exercise measurably improve a number of important health and fitness markers, particularly when you first take them up, says Mike. Your blood pressure drops,
metabolism
improves, and VO2 max — a measure of the maximum amount of oxygen your body can process — goes up.

Specialize in one form or the other, however, and the benefits — and drawbacks — of each start to diverge in significant ways.

No-frills, steady-state cardio has long been a cornerstone in training programs. And with good reason. The vast majority of physical functions — from digestion to breathing to everyday movements like walking, standing, and
sleeping
— are powered by the aerobic system.

Even activities that are anaerobic, including HIIT, depend on the aerobic system to help restore the body to a neutral state after each work interval — and after the workout itself. (That’s why anaerobic activity makes you breathe so hard, even though the work intervals themselves require minimal oxygen.) “The aerobic energy pathways are the limiting factor to anything wedo,” says strength coach and physical therapist Charlie Weingroff, DPT, creator of the DVD series
Training=Rehab, Rehab=Training
. In other words, build a better aerobic engine, and you’ll get better at everything else.

Several common beliefs about the dangers of steady-state cardio have recently been proven untrue. Unless you log an excessive number of hours each week doing steady-state cardio, and do little else in the way of exercise, “it doesn’t slow you down, and it doesn’t make you weak,” says Mike Robertson, MS, CSCS, co-owner of IFAST gym in Indianapolis. And people who are concerned that high-repetition cardio will wreck their
knees
can rest easy. In people of normal weight with healthy joints, moderate jogging can actually strengthen knees, suggests a 2011 study of lifetime runners by Monash University in Australia.

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